District 9 - Detailed Movie Notes
Documentary or Narrative?
- The film is presented as a documentary but is in fact structured as a narrative.
Documentary Strands
- Two strands of documentary are present:
- Talking heads (experts) providing commentary and explanations.
- The film is portrayed as a documentary.
Societal Issues and Themes
- The film explores themes relevant to societal issues, racism, xenophobia, and segregation.
- Segregation at its worst becomes apartheid, where people are forced to live in specific, often underserved, districts.
- There's a natural tendency for people to want to be with their own "tribe," which is not inherently wrong unless it becomes enforced segregation.
- The film draws parallels to refugee and immigration crises happening worldwide.
- Rapid influxes of people can lead to fear of change and differences, potentially causing racism and othering.
- Othering: painting a population as "other" or different.
MNU Documentary
- The MNU (Multinational United) creates a documentary to calm the public and assure them that the alien situation is under control.
- However, the MNU's documentary is propaganda; they are lying and not expressing their true intentions, which involve the exploitation of alien technology represented by the "black fluid".
- It only serves one side or a incomplete truth.
Filmmaker's Approach
- The filmmaker uses the documentary format to structure the film, blending it with live-action elements.
- The film shows the shadow side of human behavior when people feel afraid, without offering easy solutions but leaving it to the audience to consider how they want to respond.
Transition of Film
- The film shifts between documentary style and live action.
- It is set 20 years in the future.
- The government is protrayed as down to earth.
- The film makes use of CGI effects.
Vikas's character
- He seems harmless and innocuous, but he is a weak and unreliable character.
Visual Motifs and Symbolism
- Close-ups: Used to show the characters face, allowing the audiance to see into their soul and feel empathy.
- The left side of the body is a motif, linked to otherness, the heart, and left-wing politics.
- Left-handedness: Historically seen as "other"; left-handed people are often creative but face challenges in a right-handed world.
- Politics: Right-wing politics often focus on tradition, while left-wing politics are viewed as open to other agendas.
- Having left your home for a long time will change you.
Cat Food
- The aliens' addiction to cat food serves as a lever of control.
- This is similar to drug addiction, which is used in systemic racism to target communities.
- The "war on drugs" and "stop and search" policies in the US are mentioned as examples of systemic racism, leading to high incarceration rates within certain communities.
- At the end of the film, there's a metal flower and what it represents.
- It is a symbol of hope rising out of ashes.
- It is a metaphor for the flower children.
Uplifting Moment
- Vikas hears Kubis's and his henchmen's thoughts, and he comes back.
